The Police Car and the Speeder - Part 2 - Offscreen Capture

 

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Description

[This problem is similar to the POLICE1 example, but this time, we don't see the capture on screen!] A police officer is at rest, when a speeder goes by. This Police Officer has a less powerful car, and doesn't accelerate as fast. (Consider the "measuring points" for the cars to be the back end of the cars .. thus the Police car is at X=0 in this picture.)

        

Display Options :    X coordinate not shown         X coordinate shown         Vx coordinate shown         Ax coordinate shown

Questions

A) How fast is the speeder going?
B) How long does the Police Officer wait until he starts moving? (Assume he starts his stopwatch when the backs of the cars line up.)
C) How many seconds (from when the police car starts) will elapse before the Police Car catches the Speeder?
D) What is the acceleration of the Police Car (assuming it is constant)?

Answers

A) Vtruck = 2 m/sec.
B) The Police officer pauses about 2.8 seconds before accelerating.
C) The Police Officer will catch the Speeder in about ?? seconds.
D) The Police Officer has a constant acceleration of 0.9 m/sec2.

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